Two Upstate restaurants have been ordered to pay a total of nearly $75,000 in back wages to 13 employees, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Labor.

The department's wage and hour division found El Jimador Mexican Restaurants in Clemson and Westminster to have low-wage employees who were working "off the books."

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The restaurants, that are owned and operated by several members of the Macias family, were also in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime, minimum wage and record-keeping provisions at both locations, according to investigators.

“We found several low-wage, at-risk employees working off the books at both El Jimador Mexican Restaurants. Many of them worked long hours, often averaging 60 hours a week, but earned far below the minimum wage and no overtime compensation,” said Michelle Garvey, director of the division’s Columbia office. “These workers deserve every penny of the wages they have rightfully earned. Through the effort of our ongoing enforcement initiative, the wage and hour division continues to combat widespread labor violations among South Carolina restaurants to protect workers and ensure a level playing field for law-abiding employers.”

Investigators said the hourly wage paid amounted to less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, and the employees were forced to buy their uniforms with money illegally deducted from their wages. They said the restaurants did not pay appropriate overtime wages and failed to keep required records.

In addition to paying the back wages owed, the restaurants agreed to maintain future compliance.

The restaurant industry employs some of the country’s lowest-paid workers who, due to a lack of knowledge of the law or an unwillingness to exercise their rights, are vulnerable to disparate treatment and labor violations.

The investigations were conducted under the division’s multiyear enforcement initiative, focused on the restaurant industry in South Carolina, where widespread noncompliance with the federal minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions has been found.

Since 2012, the division’s Columbia District Office has concluded more than 130 restaurant investigations, resulting in the recovery of more than $1,580,000 in back wages for more than 1,630 workers.